Making Videos (With CamStudio)

(Updated December 30, 2010)

Hello folks,

Lately, we have been looking at free video recording software and testing the settings to see if they produce a high enough quality output. Camtasia (what a few other contributors and myself normally use) is quite expensive, but it does have a 30-day trial period if the following gives you issues.

If you don’t already own desktop recording software, I would suggest CamStudio (http://www.camstudio.org). It is open source, so no investment is required at all! From what I can tell, the output is quite high quality.

I have downloaded and used CamStudio 2.6 beta- it seems to be in working order. Should you choose to go this route, once installed, make these changes:

• Options -> Video Options: Uncheck “Auto Adjust.” Set “Quality” to 100. Using the drop down menu at the top, select “TechSmith Screen Capture Codec.” Press “Configure,” and make sure the slide bar is set to the highest quality (“Better Compression”).
• Options: Make sure “Record audio from microphone” is selected
• Options -> Program Options: Make sure “Minimize program on start recording” is selected
• Options -> Program Options -> Name of AVI file: Make sure “Ask for file name” is selected. Make sure to use an intuitive naming scheme. (i.e., “Round 2″ or “Deck building,” etc.)
• Options -> Program Options -> Directory for recording: I have selected “Use user specified directory…” for ease of finding files
• Options -> Program Options -> Keyboard shortcuts: Set a shortcut to stop recording so that you can end the video without having to navigate windows.

Some generic advice and other tasks:

Do a test run or three before you go to record actual game play (to make sure that the output looks crisp and the audio is clear and loud enough). Put on some headphones and play it back to see if the sound level is high enough and the ensure that you do not have a lot of obnoxious background noise. Protip: I angle my headset microphone right above my nose so that it doesn’t pick up my breathing.

Try to keep the language PG-13 (to maintain a family/work friendly). If you slip and curse or someone messages you profanity (or other tasteless comments), you can let us know the video name and time of the issue.

Try to be more interesting than I am, Zwick always complains that he falls asleep while editing my vids. Scripts help if you want to hit a few different topics while recording (beyond game play).

Record each phase of the event separately. For example, if you are drafting, you would have a draft and deck building video and then three videos for the three rounds of play. For Constructed, quick deck tech videos are fine at the beginning of Round 1 (if they are short).

Once the .AVIs have been recorded, save them all in a folder with the title that you’d prefer used. Then, make sure that you have a text document in the folder that shortly describes (i.e., This is a 8-4 SoM Draft. I draft an infect deck and make it to finals.) the event and contains any special directions for editing (if something needs removed). Also, include a quick two sentence blurb that we will use as an excerpt for the material (think of it as a hook).

If this suits your needs as a contributor, let me know, and Zwick can set up an ftp account for you. I deal with written material, so if you ever would rather write than record (or use embedded videos in articles), let me know! Personally, I prefer videos, and I think that many readers/viewers do too.

Cheers,

Chris